React Native vs Native: Which One To Choose For Your Mobile App

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Table of Contents

Introduction

The battle royale between cross-platform application development and native app development has always been a topic of grave discussion. Today, many business owners have opted for cross-platform apps, and the application development marketplace is significantly shifting toward robust development practices.

In contrast, others have chosen to remain with the native application development.

In this blog post, we will evaluate two technological stacks, React Native vs Native development, on various parameters to help you gain insight and decide the ideal choice for your next development project.

Factors to Consider When Choosing React Native vs Native Development

React Native is a cross-platform framework that allows the creation of natively rendered mobile applications across iOS and Android platforms using a single codebase. Contrary to this, Native development includes developing separate applications for each platform using the native programming languages and tools.

When choosing between React Native and Native development, you must consider the following factors to make an informed choice: performance, development time, mobile app cost, security, scalability, programming language, UI/UX, native module support, long-term support, Interactivity with native apps, APIs, and third-party libraries, and application maintenance.

1. Performance

Comparing React Native vs Native performance, React Native works with JavaScript, which operates via a single dedicated device thread. This allows React Native to perform multiple asynchronous tasks simultaneously. However, the thread lacks support for several trending modules and functionalities, making it incompatible with embracing the native devices, features, and cutting-edge technologies and performing complex manipulation and tasks.

In contrast, Native development using native languages such as Java and Kotlin allows you to work with advanced features, make heavy calculations, and integrate high-end hardware devices. This enables your mobile app developers to create any application efficiently using native technologies.

2. Development Time and Resources

React Native is a renowned hybrid framework for mobile app development. Its efficiency in creating mobile applications across Android and iOS platforms saves development time and resources due to using a single codebase. Also, hot reloading makes deployment easier, with every edit instantly visible while making changes. This reduces the development time, effort, and possibility of errors, reducing the overall mobile app development cost.

Native development requires writing the complete code separately for multiple platforms in different languages, which needs a separate team with separate expertise to make your app available on multiple platforms i.e. iOS and Android.

Also, you must check both the codebases separately to find and resolve bugs and errors, which require more time and resources.

3. Security

React Native uses JavaScript, which, like other JS-based frameworks, makes it vulnerable to security threats. Using React Native for your mobile app development gives rise to issues in storing sensitive data, deep linking, authentication methods, SSL encryption, SSL pinning, and more, making React Native applications prone to vulnerabilities like extorting core logic, source code hacking along with the possibility of data leaks or unauthorized access.

However, with Native development, security is prime. It allows you to leverage the platform-specific security features, delivering better protection against potential vulnerabilities with more control over your application’s security measures. Also, with native apps, you get faster approval on the app stores as they meet the platform’s guidelines more efficiently, focusing on a smoother approval process.

4. Scalability

React Native allows building apps that can easily handle large amounts of data and accommodate new features and updates. The code reuse functionality and modular architecture make it easy to scale the React Native applications based on the growing needs, enabling your development team to manage the increasing data loads efficiently based on evolving requirements.

Native app development requires a separate codebase for each Android or iOS platform, making it more time-consuming and complex to develop native applications. However, native applications are scalable but require more effort to maintain consistency across platforms and manage the updates for all the platforms separately. This requires more resources and time, making the scalability for native applications complex.

5. Programming Language and Documentation

React Native uses JavaScript as its programming language, which is widely renowned for its simplicity and versatility. With its cross-platform functionality, you can create mobile applications that run on iOS and Android. However, as it has a young community of developers, the documentation available is inefficient, making it difficult to tackle some issues efficiently.

Native development, on the other hand, requires programming languages such as Kotlin, Java, and Swift, which are generally considered strict-types object-oriented languages and have extensive documentation support. Therefore, you can find errors early with these languages and prevent crashes or unexpected behavior in the future. This also allows for better tooling assistance collectively, making Native development an excellent choice for large-scale development.

6. UI/UX

React Native offers up to 90% code reusability and allows writing platform-specific code separately. Still, creating a complex user interface with such things as navigation patterns, seamless transitions, animation, and more is complex with React Native app development. Also, replicating the development standards of both the Android and iOS platforms is a tough nut to crack.

Native development is superior to React Native in this domain, offering better UI and UX as each screen is designed separately, leading to more refined animations, transitions, custom views, and more, giving Native development an upper hand compared to React Native.

7. Native Modules Support

React Native is effective when handling cross-platform use cases. Still, it doesn’t cover every feature available on those platforms, whether iOS or Android, due to the single codebase in place. To access those features, your development team can create “native modules,” which makes it necessary for your development team to know how to code in the languages specific to each platform, such as Java/Kotlin for Android or Objective-C/Swift for iOS

Native development, on this note, again has the upper hand as you are building an application for a specific platform, whether iOS or Android. Thus, there are no limitations; you can access that platform’s features directly without needing add-on steps.

8. Long-Term Scope

The mobile app usage market has dramatically surged within the past few years. Data from Statista shows that the Apple Store has 1.96 million apps available for download, and the Google Play Store has 2.87 million apps available for download. This data is enough to support the fact that the mobile app market is not going down anytime soon.

React Native does not prioritize updates when it comes to cross-platform development. Also, the tools launched are not in sync with the Apple and Google platforms, making future updates complex as the tools used are not officially announced and can be deprecated anytime, which can lead to future errors.

The Native development, on the other hand, is supported officially by Google and Apple, which makes it evident that support for these platforms will continue. As they are officially available, you get extensive functionality and resolutions for errors. You can also launch updates without hampering the application’s usability.

9. Native App Interactivity

React Native typically relies on third-party libraries to communicate with other native applications, meaning they lack the same level of direct access to the data along with the functionalities the native applications have.

Native development allows for seamless interaction with the other native applications on the device and access to their data directly. This allows for a smooth and integrated user experience, as the applications can effectively share information and functionalities effortlessly.

10. API and Third-Party Libraries

React Native allows limited access to the APIs, as they can only use a subset of the APIs directly within the development process. A complex API that React Native does not natively support requires creating a connection layer using native technologies. The layer acts as a bridge between the React Native application and the desired API, allowing for integrating various functionalities not supported by React Native.

Whereas, for the Native development frameworks, your development team has direct access to the APIs available on the platform they are working with, meaning they can easily use the API effortlessly within the application without the additional layers or dependencies.

11. Application Maintenance

React Native supports a simplified app maintenance process as it uses a single codebase, whereby the same codebase is used to find and resolve errors or bugs within the system. This implies that your development team can focus on fixing the issues once they are applicable for both iOS and Android platforms. However, the native components or features might need additional attention for platform-specific problems.

Native development has a different approach on this note, as it is time-consuming and complex. Here, you are required to find and fix bugs and issues specifically for the particular platform. All the bugs resolved must be individually addressed separately for each platform, increasing the workload and complexity of the maintenance.

When To Choose What: React Native vs Native Development

Regarding developing an application, React Native and Native development have advantages and disadvantages for your business. You can choose one based on the use case of the technologies below to bring out the most in your business application.

Choose React Native App Development When:

• You are looking for cost-effective solutions and want to launch your app quickly
• You want a simple app with minimal and non-complex functionalities
• You are aiming for Android and iOS platforms using a single codebase or within a budget
• You are looking forward to a social media app or aiming to integrate Facebook ads into your app
• Your app does not need any kind of heavy interactions with other native applications
• You are developing an eCommerce application

Choose Native App Development When:

• You aim for a complex and high-performance app
• You want to focus on superior UI/UX
• You are looking forward to building an IoT-based mobile app
• Your app is highly dependent on native device features or needs to interact with other native apps
• You aim for long-term support and stability

Companies Using React Native vs Native Development

React Native for startups and large business industries is a common topic of discussion among business owners worldwide. The preference of business owners for Native development is also gaining traction. Many renowned companies have chosen React Native and the Native development for their mobile application development, which is as follows:

Companies Using React Native

? UberEats

UberEats, a popular food delivery platform, requires separate dashboards for restaurants, consumers, and delivery partners. Initially built using React for the web, the UberEats team transitioned to React Native to create a unified platform. This move proved successful, particularly regarding scalability as the platform grows.

By using React Native, the UberEats development team was able to create an elegant UI and smooth UX, incorporating features such as sound and push notifications. The transition to React Native allowed for a productive rebuild of the UberEats dashboard.

? Instagram

Instagram by Meta Platforms made its transition to React Native in 2016. Despite being a media-heavy app with significant live-streaming functionality, the Instagram team successfully delivered a high-performing app with a simple and intuitive UI.

Although the development process was initially slow, the adoption of React Native enabled Instagram’s development teams to ship features faster. Code sharing and higher iteration speeds, facilitated by tools like live reload and hot reloading, allowed for quicker deployment of features across Android and iOS platforms. This transition improved developer velocity and efficiency.

? Shopify

Shopify, a leading e-commerce platform, shifted to React Native in 2019 after six years of working with native development. The Shopify team was sure that modern-day devices could handle the bundling in the JavaScript layer efficiently, and they did not require significant processing power.

Since Shopify’s platform was originally built using React, the transition to React Native was relatively smooth, with minimal hiccups, errors, or crashes. This switch enabled Shopify to quickly release an Android app, as 80% of the code was shared between the iOS and Android versions.

? Pinterest

Pinterest, a visual discovery and bookmarking platform, considered adopting React Native in 2017. During an internal hackathon, the Pinterest team successfully built a prototype of their iOS app in just ten days. Remarkably, within the next two days, they achieved 100% code sharing of the UI between the iOS and Android platforms. The application demonstrated excellent performance, leading to the release of another version in 2018. Since then, Pinterest has continued to use React Native for their mobile application development.

Companies Using Native Development

? Dropbox

Dropbox, a file hosting and synchronization service, initially used C++ for its mobile app development due to its code-sharing efficiency across iOS and Android platforms. However, the overhead cost of maintaining two merged codebases was higher than anticipated. Moreover, the lack of native functionalities within the C++ ecosystem led Dropbox to transition to native development fully. This shift resolved the encountered challenges and provided a more viable solution for Dropbox’s mobile app.

? Airbnb

Airbnb, a popular online marketplace for lodging and experiences, initially chose to use React Native for their mobile application. However, they encountered difficulties in meeting their original expectations. The team faced challenges with cross-platform functionality and debugging, which required additional tools and increased the complexity of maintaining the codebase across platforms. Furthermore, Airbnb continued to invest in their native interface alongside React Native. By dropping React Native and allocating more resources to native development, Airbnb found a more suitable approach for their mobile app.

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is React Native easier than Native Development?

React Native is generally easier than native development as it uses JavaScript, a popular language with a large community. In contrast, Native development, on the other hand, requires mastering specific platform-specific languages like Swift or Java, which generally have a steeper learning curve for beginners. However, it is crucial to remember that both options require dedication and continuous mobile development.

Does React Native have a future?

Yes, React Native has a very bright future. Its rising popularity, with significant companies using it and continuous updates and improvements, makes it an excellent choice for developers. The framework presents advantages such as extensive community, efficient development, and potential integration with AI. However, it is not perfect yet, but React Native has a promising future in mobile app development.

Is React Native hybrid or native?

React Native falls in the category of fully native and fully hybrid development. It uses JavaScript-like hybrid frameworks, but unlike them, it renders the components directly as native UI elements, offering near-native performance and user experience. This combination of code reusability and native-like feel makes React Native unique.